The Beacon Herald
MIKE BEITZ Staff Reporter mike.beitz@sunmedia.ca
Stratford has emerged as one of the leaders
"I think this is where we really come to bear. We have here a great factory of Canadian content designers and manufacturers. And the knowledge worker of the future is going to be all about telling stories." Ginny Dybenko, executive director at UW Stratford.
A Stratford-born digital media event has contributed more than a few bytes to the national digital strategy unveiled by the federal government Friday.
Industry Minister James Moore booted up the Digital Canada 150 program in Waterloo, outlining an ambitious set of initiatives for making this country a leader in the digital age.
Enhancing and extending high-speed Internet access across the country, making strategic investments to help small- and medium-sized businesses adopt digital technologies, and promoting the digitization and sharing of Canadian cultural content online are among the key "pillars" of the plan.
And they're all in keeping with the initial goals of Canada 3.0, a forum launched by the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) in Stratford back in 2009.
CDMN managing director Kevin Tuer, who attended Friday's announcement in Waterloo, said he was happy to see a national strategy that dovetails so closely with the goals of Canada 3.0.
"What this is, to me, is proof that we're pulling on the rope in the same direction," he said Friday, suggesting the Digital Canada 150 is "one of those things we've been waiting for for a long time."
In fact, the new strategy can trace at least some of its roots back to Stratford.
In 2010, then-Industry Minister Tony Clement used the Canada 3.0 conference to launch a national consultation strategy to gather input on how to make Canada a leading digital nation.
That input was incorporated into the plan unveiled Friday.
Canada 3.0's original "moonshot" goal – that anyone can do anything online in Canada by 2017 (the country’s 150th birthday) – is reflected in the name of the new strategy.
And while Canada 3.0 is no longer held here, Stratford still looms large on the digital landscape, noted Tuer, thanks in large part to the digital media focused University of Waterloo Stratford campus and Stratford Accelerator Centre.
Like the CDMN, of which the local campus is a founding hub, their focus is on innovation and commercialization of digital media, central themes in Digital Canada 150.
"Stratford has an opportunity to play a huge role in this," said Tuer.
Ginny Dybenko, executive director at UW Stratford, agreed.
Students at the local campus have a major stake in the "powerful" vision Moore put forward Friday of Canada as a digital leader, she suggested, especially when it comes to content creation.
"I think this is where we really come to bear," said Dybenko. "We have here a great factory of Canadian content designers and manufacturers. And the knowledge worker of the future is going to be all about telling stories."
The local campus, then, can have a "dramatic" impact, she added.
"Really, what we're doing is we're creating the individuals here who are going to deliver a digital Canada," said Dybenko.
The full Digital Canada 150 plan can be found on the Industry Canada website at http://www.ic.gc. ca/eic/site/028.nsf/eng/home.
